In early 2026, Far West Texas will be one of just a handful of locations in the U.S. participating in a Census “test” that federal officials hope will offer lessons for getting a better count of the entire country’s population.
The test – which will include Brewster, Presidio, Jeff Davis and Pecos counties – is an opportunity for the U.S. Census Bureau to try out “new tools and methods” to improve population counts during the next full Census in 2030.
Officials selected Far West Texas in part because of the unique challenges of getting an accurate count in this sparsely populated, remote region. During the last Census count in 2020, Presidio County in particular had one of the lowest response rates in Texas.
Similar testing efforts will also be happening early next year in Colorado, Alabama, South and North Carolina, and on tribal lands within Arizona.
For more on the effort, Marfa Public Radio spoke with Lacey Loftin, Partnership Specialist with the Census Bureau who’s involved with the test in our region. Listen to that conversation above.
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